The Story Behind the Song
by Lily with Thorns
Summary: There is a song behind every story, and a story behind every song. Songfics to Taylor Swift music. Enjoy. Rated T due to paranoia.


Chapter 1- Enchanted

A.N. I do not own Taylor Swift or The Kane Chronicles. This is an A.U. where they are magicians but Carter and Sadie know about the House of Life, Iskandar is Zia's grandfather, the House isn't as bigoted about the Gods, the Gods are free, Ruby didn't die and Julius isn't in trouble with the House. Takes place when Carter and Zia are 14 and Sadie is 12. Zia's POV. 3rd person

_**June 21st **_

There I was again tonight

_Forcing laughter, faking smiles_

Sometimes Zia had to wonder if her grandfather was crazy. Her attending a party? That did not compute no matter how many times she tried to wrap her mind around it. The girl who spends most of her time curled up with a book in her room talking to people at a party. She would have preferred a painful duel with a water elementalist then spend another minute talking with people who really didn't like her.

_Same old tired lonely place_

_Walls of insincerity_

_Shifting eyes and vacancy_

The constant chatter was starting to wear on her nerves a little, well a lot. There seemed to have to be thousands of people she had to talk to simply because she was the chief lector's granddaughter. She tried to keep the conversations short and simple, a quick "Hello I'm Zia Rashid, how are you? Good? That's great. Goodbye." but the heads of the other nomes kept dragging the conversation kept dragging on. They all treated her like she was five or something when she would be fifteen in December!

True most of them were over a hundred but that didn't mean she didn't have a mind and ideas that could be listened to instead of blatantly ignored with a, "That's nice dearie. What type of magic do you practice?" when they had asked her about what she thought about her grandfather's position in the House!

_Vanished when I saw your face_

_All I can say is it was enchanting to meet you._

Finally her grandfather took pity on her and interrupted Desjardins, the head of the fourteenth nome before he asked her if she wanted to be transferred to the fourteenth nome again saying " I think you need to calm down Zia dear before you set Desjardins here on fire," in that sardonic voice that indicated he was feeling in a playful mood. "There are some people I want you to meet Zia. Julius and Ruby Kane heads of the twenty first nome in Brooklyn."

I said goodbye to Desjardins and then walked quickly after my grandfather. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?" I muttered to him after we were far enough away from Desjardins for him to not hear me.

"Only every time I manage to get you away from a conversation you don't want to continue," he laughed. Then we passed the majority of the other guests to a group of four people standing in the corner of the room. A African American man standing with a tanned blonde woman with bright blue eyes and two kids, a boy and a girl, that looked like them only younger, maybe about my age. I didn't look at the girl to much as my eyes were immediately caught up looking at the boy who was looking in my direction. "Zia, I'd like you to meet Julius and Ruby Kane and their children Carter and Sadie Kane." My grandfather talked with the two adults for a bit and then left while stood awkwardly there trying not to stare too hard at the boy, Carter.

_Your eyes whispered have we meet?_

_Crossed the room your silhouette_

_Starts to make its way to me_

_The playful conversation starts_

_Counter all your quick remarks_

_Like passing notes in secrecy_

"Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's under twenty-five here, well besides Carter." Sadie said, obviously trying to break the awkward silence that had erupted after Mr. Kane and Mrs. Kane had left. It worked. They all started laughing and talking about stuff. Zia appreciated it. She didn't even remember the conversation topics, only the waves and waves of laughter that burst out periodically as the three of them gradually let down their barriers and started to appreciate the good company they had. Carter was often the butt of Sadie's jokes, calling him a human Wikipedia and a dunce when it came to what looked normal, saying he always dressed like a junior professor.

Carter was definitely good looking, but Zia didn't really think that was the best thing about him. That was definitely his warm personality and dry sense of humor that perfectly matched her own. She really didn't want to admit it but, she was fairly sure she had a crush on him.

_And it was enchanting to meet you_

_This night is sparkling don't you let it go_

_I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home_

_I'll spend forever wondering if you knew_

_I was enchanted to meet you_

Now, walking back to her room she was blushing. Thinking about Carter and Sadie. Well, mostly about Carter. He was amazing. Kind and sweet, the kind of guy that her fellow female initiates would fall over themselves trying to get to notice them. She couldn't believe her luck. Carter and Sadie were great friends. But she couldn't help wondering if Carter knew how dazzled she was by him, and that fact that he had been interested in what she said and thought. Did he know how she felt about him? If he did, and that was a big if, would he even think of her the same way? She doubted it. She wasn't pretty, her fellow initiates had remarked upon it enough.

_The lingering question kept me up_

_2 AM, who do you love?_

_I wonder 'til I'm wide awake_

She couldn't stop thinking about him, no matter how hard she tried. Did he have a girlfriend? She knew she was being ridiculous about it but she felt a sort of connection with the combat magician. A spark no matter small had started a fire inside her heart. Now she was awake in the middle of the night. Not sleepy at all. Awake and thinking about Carter.

_Now I'm pacing back and forth_

_Wishing you were at my door_

_I'd open up and you would say_

_It was enchanting to meet you_

_All I know is I was enchanted to meet you_

She prowled her room thinking about him and how she wished she could talk with him again. How she wished he would say, "It was amazing meeting you Zia." No, that wouldn't even begin to describe how she felt about him. It was more like she was under a spell. A spell that was really annoying. A spell that Hathor would have invented, if it even existed and wasn't just the result of hormones and someone talking to her and treating her as a human being with opinions, who didn't lie to her face about liking her and then spreading horrible rumors about her through the first nome. She was simply, enchanted by him.

_This night is sparkling don't you let it go_

_I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home_

_I'll spend forever wondering if you knew_

_This night is flawless, don't you let it go_

_I'm wonderstruck, dancing around all alone_

Zia was fairly sure she wouldn't see him again and that her feelings were probably little more than wishful thinking and kindness. She just kept thinking of how amazed she was that she had met him. How she hoped he didn't have a girlfriend.

_I'll spend forever wondering if you knew_

_I was enchanted to meet you_

There wasn't much chance that she would see him again. She would be left wondering… Wondering about him. If he knew how she felt. One meeting and left alone wondering about him, about what he had said behind the words he spoke.

_This is me praying that_

_This was the very first page_

_Not where the story line ends_

Oh Nephthys, she prayed, please don't let this be the last time I see him. Zia knew it was ridiculous, a fire elementalist praying to a river goddess, but the two of them had a special kind of relationship. Their birthday's were on the same day December 31st and they both knew what it was like to be over shadowed by a more famous relative. They had even met once when she was a little girl. Now they both knew how it felt to love someone and not be able to tell him about it.

_My thoughts will echo your name_

_Until I see you again_

_These are the words I held back_

_As I was leaving to soon_

_I was enchanted to meet you _

She knew she had left to soon. If she had stayed a little longer she might have realized how she felt earlier and told him. Carter… She knew his name would be forever imprinted on her mind. She hadn't really believed in love at first sight. Now she believed in it but she didn't learn fast enough.

_Please don't be in love with someone else_

_Please don't have somebody waiting on you _

_Please don't be in love with someone else_

_Please don't have somebody waiting on you_

_This night is sparkling don't you let it go_

_I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home_

_I'll spend forever wondering if you knew_

_This night is flawless, don't you let it go_

_I'm wonderstruck, dancing around all alone_

_I'll spend forever wondering if you knew_

_I was enchanted to meet you_

_Please don't be in love with someone else_

_Please don't have somebody waiting on you._

_**Three Months Later:**_

Zia walked up to the mansion situated on the east bank of the river and entered the door calling out, "Hello, is anyone there?" When the head of the nome showed up she handed him the roll of papyrus she was grasping in her hand. He read it and smiled, looking up at her. He gave her back the papyrus and said, "Welcome." Zia looked at it reading again the words printed on it in a bold hand that she had memorized. " I, Chief Lector Iskandar, now assign Zia Rashid to the twenty first nome."


End file.
